Having to rely on a backup plan

Every now and then, one of my students does something especially meritorious. I used this deal in a class last month. How should the play go in four spades after the defenders take two heart tricks, then shift, say, to a diamond? If South misplays the trump suit, is there a way to recover with this layout? With that North hand, I would have raised to three no-trump, thinking the heart king would bolster that suit.Here,though,thatwould have worked poorly, East-West taking the first five tricks in the suit.Infourspades,declarer has three side-suit losers: two hearts and one diamond. He must play the trump suit without loss. East needs to hold the spade king. But it might be necessary to take the trump finesse three times. This requires staying on the board for as long as possible. If you wish to keep repeating a finesse, first lead the lowest card that will hold the trick if the finesse is successful. Here, after ruffing a heart on the board, declarer should start with dummy’s nine. When that finesse works, South continues with dummy’s queen. Now East cannot win. Declarer takes fourspades,twodiamonds, three clubs and a heart ruff in the dummy. Etsie Bailey of Hobe Sound, Florida (who is 95, but you’d never guess), first ran dummy’s queen, playing the four from hand. The second round of spades went to her jack, but West discarded a heart. Unfazed, Etsie cashed her top clubs and diamonds,then,attrick11,led her diamond six. East had to win and lead away from the spade king-six. The class gave her a round of applause.— Phillip Alder